Smackdown Rating Drops Against Roseanne Return

– The rating for this week’s Smackdown ran into the freight truck that was the Roseanne revival, taking a hefty ratings drop. Last night’s episode had a 0.78 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 2.576 million viewers. Those numbers are down 21% and 11% from last week’s 0.99 demo rating and 2.88 million viewers. The numbers were the lowest since the February 13th episode had a 0.76 and 2.449 million viewers.

The drop can be partially attributed to last week’s rise in the face of Daniel Bryan’s return to the ring, but the influence of ABC’s Roseanne premiere can’t be understated either. The sitcom returned for two of its eight half-hour episodes starting at 8 PM and scored a monster 5.2 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic. That’s the highest number for a sitcom telecast in three and a half years, and the best premiere for a television show this year with ease. (By comparison, the previous high for a premiere this season was Young Sheldon with a 3.8). Furthermore, the demo rating was more or less equally strong between men and women, which means it very likely impacted Smackdown’s rating.

Despite the drop, Smackdown still ranked #1 among cable originals for the night per Showbuzz Daily. The #2 show was Fixer Upper on HGTV with a 0.59 and 2.960 million viewers.